The production of floorings using modular elements in the form of planks and/or tiles is well known in the prior art. Their attachment to the floor is usually performed by means of gluing and/or an interlocking assembly of planks and/or tiles having male-female connection or assembly means.
Such panels are notably described in documents GB 2,256,023, EP 1,026,341 or WO 2012/004701.
GB 2,256,023 describes a joint between the adjacent lateral edges of two similar panels, wherein a panel comprises a groove with a U shape cross-section opening onto the side of the panel and wherein a second panel has a lateral tongue comprising a rib turned towards the lower face of the panel, said tongue engaging with the groove in order to limit separation of the panels.
EP 1,026,341 describes a hard floor panel for producing a floor covering. This floor panel comprises two edges on two opposing sides provided with coupling elements which confer to two adjacent panels the ability to engage with one another, said coupling elements being essentially in the form of a tongue and a groove. Said coupling means are provided with integrated mechanical locking means formed as one piece together with the panel such that when two adjacent panels are coupled, said means prevent said panels from moving away from one another in a direction perpendicular to the edges concerned and parallel to the lower face of the coupled floor panels.
WO 2012/004701 describes a floor panel that comprises a substrate and an upper layer on the substrate, the upper layer being composed of at least one print and of a transparent thermoplastic layer, said floor panel being provided, on at least two opposing edges, with a straight or curved chamfer. Moreover, both opposing edges of a panel comprise respectively a groove with a U shape cross-section opening onto the side of the panel and a lateral tongue that is able to engage with the groove in order to limit separation of the panels.
The assembly of this type of panel is performed by the oblique presentation of a panel to be positioned, which panel is presented in a position towards the anchor panel, terminating in a horizontal plane in order to be locked and in alignment with the previous one. This suggests particular shapes and also a free space in order to allow for the amplitude of movement necessary for the laying of successive panels.
Very many patents are also known in the prior art describing male-female assembly means for panels forming coverings with oblique or lateral pre-positioning in order to insert the assembly means between them. This is notably the case of the international patent applications WO 01/77461 and WO 01/53628.
This type of panel has the same drawbacks during installation and, in order to obviate these drawbacks, panels comprising male-female coupling means allowing for the vertical assembly of panels, have already been envisaged. This is notably the case of the European patent application EP 1,190,149.
EP 1,190,149 describes an attachment system for panels with retaining profiles that can be arranged on the narrow sides of the panels, wherein the mutually opposing retaining profiles of a panel are adapted to one another in such a way that adjacent panels can be attached thereto. Said retaining profiles are formed of a so-called proximal groove opening onto the lower face of the panel and onto the upper face of the panel, respectively, and of a distal tongue in the form of a hook, said hook facing the groove, extending from the end of the edge of the panel towards the lower face and, respectively, towards the upper face of said panel such that, during assembly, the tongue in the form of a hook, of a first panel, engages with the tongue in the form of a hook of a second adjacent panel.
Although this type of panel requires less free space, given that the assembly thereof is performed vertically, this type of panel nevertheless has the drawback that it requires significant assembly force and that it offers low resistance to unclipping.
Also known in the prior art is US 2013/0309441 which describes a floor panel according to the preamble of claim 1. However, the assembly/disassembly of two adjacent panels disclosed in this document is made difficult and the panel clipping/unclipping forces are mainly transmitted to the clipping protrusions which leads to rapid deterioration of these protrusions.
During the clipping of the male coupling means into the female coupling means, the flexible distal tongue of the female coupling means moves elastically in order to allow the flexible distal tongue of the male coupling means to penetrate the proximal groove of the female coupling means. However, the spacing of the tongue is counter-supported against the floor such that a force opposing the clipping is exerted against the flexible tongue of the male coupling means, which is notably transmitted to the clipping protrusion.